Press

Unpacking the Past: Penn Museum Launches Innovative New Middle School ProgramDesigned to Spark STEM Learning through Museum Engagement* * * *Private Grant-Funded Program Aims to Reach School District of Philadelphia,KIPP, and Mastery Charter School 7th Graders and Their Families

FALL 2014—Curators and staff at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology know that ancient Egyptian culture and the practice of mummification fascinate visitors. Coming face-to-face with real materials from ancient Egypt and other cultures is an experience few forget.

Beginning this fall, 7th graders in School District of Philadelphia schools, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), and Mastery Charter Schools, their teachers—and even the students' families—have an opportunity to delve deeper into the rich material culture and traditions of ancient Egypt and the ancient Roman Empire. Students can discover more about the ancient past, all while tapping into "Common Core" curriculum standards in language arts, math, and science, through an innovative new, multi-stage program, Unpacking the Past, at the Penn Museum.

Event Extra: Treasures Sale and Show of Jewelry and Accessories Openin Kintner-Dietrich Galleries

PHILADELPHIA, PA 2014—Throughout Mexico and around the world, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) brings family and friends together to pray for and remember loved ones who have died. Far from a morose affair, Day of the Dead is a celebration, rich in traditions and connections—it is at heart a celebration of life.

On Saturday, November 1, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, the Penn Museum presents the third annual Day of the Dead Celebration, with pageantry, traditional music and dance, storytelling and puppetry, paper maché artistry, sugar skull and mask making, face painting, special foods and more. Guests can view colorful altars (ofrendas) designed by regional community groups, and a large Day of the Dead altar created by the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia and the Mexican Cultural Center, co-organizers of the event, with the help of local artist Cesar Viveros.

PHILADELPHIA, PA 2014—The Penn Museum once again opens its doors to the world, as international students, scholars, and professionals new to the Delaware Valley are invited to attend the 45th annual International Students & Scholars Reception on Friday, October 17, 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The Welcome Reception, held throughout the galleries of the Penn Museum, 3260 South Street on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, is free and open to all international students and scholars in the region.

The annual Welcome Reception, long considered a national model among international educators, hosts hundreds of international guests from more than 100 countries every year. The Penn Museum's International Classroom program leads the celebration to connect international guests with the local community and its resources, and to introduce attendees to the multicultural community of Philadelphia.

Public Invited to Tour New Facilities as Part of Museum's International Archaeology Day Celebration Saturday, October 18

PHILADELPHIA, PA 2014—This fall, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, in conjunction with Penn Arts and Sciences, launches the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM), housed in a newly renovated suite of conservation and teaching laboratories in the Museum's West Wing. The new Center will offer the facilities, materials, equipment, and expert personnel to teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students in a range of scientific techniques crucial to archaeologists and other scholars as they seek to interpret the past. Study will be arranged around eight disciplines: ceramics, digital archaeology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, human skeletal analysis, lithics, archaeometallurgy, and conservation.

In war-torn Syria, five of six World Heritage sites now "exhibit significant damage" and some structures have been "reduced to rubble," according to new high-resolution satellite image analysis by the nonprofit, nonpartisan American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The AAAS analysis, offering the first comprehensive look at the extent of damage to Syria's priceless cultural heritage sites, was completed in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology's Penn Cultural Heritage Center (PennCHC) and the Smithsonian Institution, and in cooperation with the Syrian Heritage Task Force. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the analysis provides authoritative confirmation of previous on-the-ground reports of damage to individual sites.

PHILADELPHIA, PA 2014—Visitors are invited to indulge their inner Indiana Jones on Saturday, October 18, 1:00 to 4:00 pm, as the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology celebrates International Archaeology Day.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 2014—This International Peace Day, the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, in collaboration with City poet laureate emeritus and peace advocate Sonia Sanchez, invites the community to join in a spectacular and life-affirming celebration, FOOTPRINTS OF PEACE.

PHILADELPHIA , PA 2014—Children and families are invited to delve a little deeper, discovering more about the ancient Etruscans and Egyptians, the Maya, and more at monthly Family Second Sunday Workshops, 1:00 to 4:00 pm beginning this October at the Penn Museum. Geared to families with children ages 5 and up, each monthly drop-in Workshop, offered October through May 2015, features a craft, touchable artifacts, and gallery activities.

Attendees to a Family Second Sunday Workshop automatically become members of Penn Museum's Art Excavators Club. Club members who attend three Family Second Sunday workshops receive a free surprise!

The Penn Museum Invites Visitors to Share in Recent "Re-Discovery"Rare 6,500-Year-Old Skeleton from Ur Excavation Site in IraqMoves to "In the Artifact Lab" Conservation Project Space Saturday, August 30

PHILADELPHIA, PA AUGUST 2014—Following an early August announcement of a "rediscovered" find in a Physical Anthropology storage room—a rare, fragile, but largely intact 6,500-year-old human skeleton from the famous Ur excavations in what is now Iraq—the Penn Museum will be moving the skeleton to a public space beginning Saturday, August 30.

PHILADELPHIA, PA 2014—French historian Fernand Braudel (1902-1985) once noted, "The mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization." This fall, the Penn Museum, home to art and artifacts from civilizations around the world, invites visitors to explore the international galleries with an eye to food, drink, culture, and cuisine as experienced by humans throughout the ages.

Can Offer New Insights into Human History at Famous Ur Excavation Site in Iraq

Philadelphia, PA Summer 2014—Sometimes the best archaeological discoveries aren't made in the field. Scientists at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia have re-discovered an important find in their own storage rooms, a complete human skeleton about 6,500 years old. The mystery skeleton had been stored in a coffin-like box for 85 years, all trace of its identifying documentation gone. This summer, a project to digitize old records from a world-famous excavation brought that documentation, and the history of the skeleton, back to light.

A Talking Orangutan Recounts Tales of Discovery and Adventureat Free, Multimedia Program in Museum's Harrison Auditorium

PHILADELPHIA, PA Summer 2014— An adventurous, late 19th century scientific expedition, richly documented in the Penn Museum's Archives, is the inspiration for Borneo Odyssey, a new multi-media theatrical production, presented free of charge Saturdays, August 23 and September 13, 3:00 pm in the Penn Museum's Harrison Auditorium. (Separate admission fee required to view Museum galleries.). The September 13 production is a featured event of the 2014 Fringe Festival.

At the Penn Museum Wednesday, August 13, at 1:00 pmEvent Features Ceremonial Passing of the Wampum

PHILADELPHIA, PA, 2014—Long before the first Swedish settlers, before William Penn's arrival, before there was a United States of America, the Lenape people lived and thrived in Philadelphia and a wide region that included what is now eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and southern New York. The history and culture of the Lenape Indians is an integral part of this region.

On Wednesday, August 13 at 1:00 pm, members and friends of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, who will be 13 days into a 17 day "Rising Nation" Delaware River journey by canoe, take a slight detour to visit the Penn Museum, 3260 South Street in Philadelphia, inviting area neighbors, friends, organizations and families to participate at the signing of the Treaty of Renewed Friendship. Participants who choose to sign indicate their support of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania as partners and caretakers of their sacred homeland.

JULY 2014—In addition to the high toll that Syria’s four-year-old civil war has had on its people and infrastructure, Syria’s cultural heritage has been and continues to be destroyed at an unprecedented rate. World Heritage sites like the historic city of Aleppo and Krak des Chevaliers, as well as medieval Christian cemeteries and numerous archaeological sites and museums, have been subjected to extensive raiding and looting.

In an effort to help stem the loss of the region’s significant cultural heritage, Penn Museum’s Penn Cultural Heritage Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with the Syrian Interim Government’s Heritage Task Force, have come together to offer assistance for museum curators, heritage experts, and civilians working to protect cultural heritage inside Syria. A three-day training program, “Emergency Care for Syrian Museum Collections,” focusing on safeguarding high risk collections, was completed in late June; additional training programs are being planned, pending funding.

This Planet is Doomed: A Sun Ra CelebrationAt the Penn Museum Thursday, July 10, 7:00 to 10:00 pm

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Sun Ra’s arrival on Earth, The Galleries at Moore and Ars Nova Workshop (ANW), in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum), present This Planet is Doomed: A Sun Ra Celebration, an evening of poetry, futuristic sounds, archival films and an Afro-Futurist dance party. The event is free and open to the public.

PHILADELPHIA, PA 2014—This July and August, the Penn Museum in Philadelphia is offering all visitors a HOT DEAL: $10 general admission.

Adults, seniors, and children get in for one cool price (and 1/3 off regular adult admission): $10. (As always, Penn Museum members, children under 6, PennCard holders and active military—and, summer only through Labor Day weekend, active military families—enjoy free admission.)

Philadelphia, PA 2014—Wednesday nights throughout the summer are synonymous with two things at the Penn Museum, 3260 South Street in University City—eclectic live music and laid-back fun. Now in its fifth year, the popular Summer Nights Concert Series, presented by Dogfish Head Brewery, runs Wednesdays from 5:00 to 8:00 pm, June 18 through September 3, 2014. Concerts are held in the Museum's outdoor Stoner Courtyard, replete with fountains, gardens, and a lawn. General admission for guests ages 6 and up is just $10 (and includes Museum admission). The program is free for children under 6, Museum members, PennCard holders, and Penn Health System employees.

This year's lineup features a diverse mix of bands and musicians—offering lively Samba, raucous Turkish fusion, rhythmic Afro-Cuban jazz, and more—as well as American-influenced music drawing from blues, zydeco, and old-fashioned rock n' roll. The Penn Museum's international galleries remain open, with an optional, docent-led mini-tour in between music sets at 6:30 pm. Outside, guests of all ages can explore ancient Rome via touchable (and even wearable) artifacts at a Cartifact station.

PHILADELPHIA, PA—Penn Museum's Summer Wonder series returns this season with a diverse lineup of performances and demonstrations perfect for children 5 to 13, and the whole family. This weekly morning program offers an opportunity to enjoy international music and dance, hear stories from around the world, and more!

PHILADELPHIA, PA­—Relâche, Philadelphia's internationally-renowned new music ensemble, concludes its "New Sounds and Cinema" series on Sunday, June 1, with two performances of "Scott's Penguin and Hitchcock's Lodger," 1:30 pm and again at 4:00 pm, at the Penn Museum, 3260 South Street on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Performances are held in the Museum's newly renovated Widener Hall.Relâche concert tickets are just $15 ($10 for Museum members), in advance or at the door, and $10 for Penn students with PennCard, at the door. A ticket may be used to enter and explore the Museum's international galleries anytime after 3:00 pm on the day of the concert. June 1 tickets may be purchased online (penn.museum/calendar) or at the concert, while supplies last.

PHILADELPHIA, PA—Sip outside the usual happy hour routine. On Thursday, May 8, 6:30 to 8:30 pm, the Young Friends of the Penn Museum present Cerveza! Celebrating the South American Tradition. Dr. Clark Erickson, American Section Curator-in-Charge, talks about south-of-the-border beer traditions and his recent research and collaboration with Dogfish Head Brewery to replicate traditional South American chicha beer, before inviting guests to sample beers representing the region. Admission to Cerveza! Celebrating the South American Tradition is $30, general admission; $25 for members of the Penn Museum. Admission includes talk, beer tastings, and South American-themed hors d'oeurves. Visit www.penn.museum/calendar or call 215.898.4000 for details and to purchase tickets.